CLAW hypothesis

Fig. 2.19 Relationship between marine sulfur emission (as dimethyl sulfide DMS), climate and feedback, including human perturbation as an example of the Gaia hypothesis, called the CLAW hypothesis modified after Charlson et al. (1987).

Dimethyl sulphide is the most dominant of the reduced sulphur gas found in surface layers of the ocean (Lovelock et al. 1972). The emission of dimethyl sulphide from seawater is expected to balance the excess sulphur deposition over the remote oceans (Charlson et al. 1992). Charlson et al. (1987) proposed a hypothesis, known as the CLAW (after the authors Charlson, Lovelock, Andreae and Warren) hypothesis connecting biogenic DMS emissions to changes in albedo, in which increased production of DMS due to global warming is expected to lead to more sulphate aerosols and subsequently to more cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) that in turn enhances back radiation. 

Hayes, T.B., Stuart, A.A., Mendoza, M., et al., 2006. Characterization of atrazine-induced gonadal malformations in African clawed frogs Xenopus laeuis) and comparisons with effects of an androgen antagonist (cypterone acetate) and exogenous estrogen (17-estradiol) support for the demasculinization/femi-nization hypothesis. Environ. Health Perspect. 114 (S-1), 134-141. 

---